Sweating it out on uneven pitches in Mumbai under intense heat is always difficult. In a T20, a bowler gets only 24balls to prove himself unlike a batsman who can dodge the tough bowlers and face as many deliveries he wants. In the longer formats a bowler grinds hard with long bowling spells to churn out results. Hence, bowling consistently well is very hard and requires a lot of practice and accuracy.
Here are the top 5 bowling spells in April 2018 which stood out in Mumbai Cricket.
Joint 5th- Harmeet Singh (SLA)- 8/129, Times Shield, Played for Air India Sports Club at Sachin Tendulkar Gymhana
Even though his team lost the semi-finals against the powerful DY Patil Team. Left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh won the hearts of many with his hard fought and passionate bowling spell where he grinded hard under a powerful batting line up taking 8/129 in 29.4overs. Harmeet just kept on bowling with focus and accuracy and it helped him scalp 8 of the 10 high profile batsman of DY Patil. Indeed a great spell Harmeet!
5th-Parag Patil (SLA)-5/32, Kanga Knockout Tournament ’18 at Oval Maidan
Played at the Oval Maidan, Friends SC and Dilip Vengsarkar Foundation took on each other wherein Friends CC won the toss and elected to field first. Made to bat first, Dilip Vengsarkar Foundation were restricted to 179runs all out in34.2 overs which is surely not the biggest of totals to defend.
Defending a low total of 180, the pressure was more on Dilip Vengsarkar boys but they defended the total very well as they bundled out Friends SC to 133/all out in 33.4 overs. Left- arm spinner Parag Patil was the pick of the bowlers as he came up with a match winning spell of 5/32 in 8.4 overs. Parag was bowling at good line and length and gave crucial breakthroughs while Prathamesh Goad who missed out on hat-trick was also impressive with the ball. Dilip Vengsarkar Foundation won the match by 46runs on the back of Parag Patil’s impressive perfomance.
4th-Prithvi Khakkar (RAM)-5/26, Times Shield, HT Media vs Mumbai Fire Brigade at Cross Maidan
HT Media team were in quite a trouble as they were bundled out for mere 158runs batting first. Defending such a low total, all-rounder Prithvi Khakhar ripped apart through Mumbai Fire Brigade’s top order taking 5/26 in 9overs. Prithvi bowled really tight with perfect accuracy as he got 2 catches in the slip cordon in the 5 wickets that he took while one was clean bowled unsettling the opposition.
Mumbai Fire Brigade were all-out for 68runs in 19.4overs on the back of his brilliant fifer as HT Media clinched a thumping win by 90runs.
3rd- Jairaj Bisht (RAF)- 5/23, Kanga Knockout Tournament ’18, Cross Maidan
Played between Gamdevi Cricketers and Khandala CC, Gamdevi boys winning the toss batted first notching up a healthy total of 277 in 45 overs. Chasing 278, Khandala CC were in for a shock as Jairaj Bisht wrecked havoc over the opposition with his tearaway fast bowling. Both the bowlers took on the Khandala batsman with pure dominance as Khandala team got all out for 132runs. Fast bowler Jairaj Bisht bowled really well coming up with match winning bowling figures of 5/23 in 6overs as he bowled in bowled at great line and length which fetched results for him as well as his team.
Vijay Singh (SLA)- 6/27, Kanga Knockout Tournament ’18 at Sassanian CC
Played between SF Sassanian Cricket Club and Kshatriya Union Club at the Sassanian CC ground, Sassanian boys won the toss and elected to bat first on their home turf with an aim of making a big total.
However, SF Sassanian SC were in for a shock as they were bundled out for mere 86runs all out in 32.4 overs. The major reason for their batting collapse on their own homepitch was Kshatriya’s talented left arm spinner Vijay Singh who castled the batsman with his wily spin. Vijay Singh came up with a match winning bowling spell taking 6/27 in 9 overs with 2maidens striking in almost every over. Vijay bowled at extremely good line and length which helped hiM take wickets at regular intervals.
It was on the back of his good bowling, his team Kshatriya Unuin Club chased it down and won the match easily by 5wkts.
AND FINALLY THE NO.1
Shoaib Sayyed (OB)- 5/11, Milan T20 Tournament ’18 at Karnatak Cross Maidan
Well giving away only 11runs in a t20 game in a spell of 4overs is always difficult. More than that giving 11runs and also taking 5wkts is something only a genuinely focused and a talented bowled can achieve.
Played at the Karnatak Cross Maidan, two really promising teams namely Orange and Lintas took on each other where in Lintas won the toss and elected to bat first on a track which had due for the bowlers.
Lintas batting first were in for a shock as they were reduced to a paltry score of 89runs all out in
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Played at the Sri Ma Vidyalaya Ground, two promising teams namely Saraswati XI and Sri Ma Balniketan XI took on each other with Sri Ma XI winning the toss and electing to bowl first on a dicey track.
Their decision to bowl first seem to be spot on as Saraswati boys were all out for mere 81runs in 20 overs on the back of some really tight bowling. Not a single batsman managed to make much of an impact as the bowlers did not give room for them to settle in. Even though all the bowlers bowled really well, Atharva Pawar was particularly impressive with the ball taking 3/8 in 4 overs.
Chasing a paltry 82, Balkrishna opening the innings took care of the chase with his solid batting. Balkrishna Karmalkar went on to score a brisk 45* off 41balls laced with 6fours and a six as Sri Ma Vidyalaya won the match by 7wkts and 5.3 overs to spare while Balkrishna and Atharva stood out in the match with their brilliant individual performances cruising their team towards a comfortable win.
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Played at the Sachin Tendulkar Gymkhana, U/23 Sachin Tendulkar XI and Under/23 Ajinkya Rahane XI took on each other where in SRT XI won the toss and elected to bat first on a wicket which has always been good to bat on.
Bhupen lalwani opening the innings gave a solid start smashing 88 off 154balls laced with 8fours and a six while Nikhil Patil and Akash Anand both contributed with 77 each taking the team total to a healthy 388/10 in 85.4 overs. All the 3 batsmen batted really well and took on the bowlers confidently which showed how powerful SRT’s batting line-up is. From the bowlers, Abubakr Siddique was the pick of the bowlers with 4wkts. Ajinkya Rahane XI in reply were bundled out for mere 161 runs all out with Prathamesh Pawar being the lone warrior smashing a fighting 71 while Kunal Thorat being the pick of the SRT XI bowlers taking 4/42 in 8.5 overs.
SRT XI declared for 160/6 in their 2nd innings with Bhupen again scoring a solid 42 while Nikhil Patil smashing a brilliant 52* off 31balls making it back to back fifties in the match and taking their lead to 377runs. Ajinkya Rahane XI this time gave a tough fight but eventually were all out for 336 runs. Openers Sairaj Sangle (141 off 220) and left handed Jay Dhavne (106 off 166) gave a 208run opening stand with both of them smashing regal tons but the rest of the batsman below them failed to capitalize as U/23 SRT XI won the match by 51runs.
It was a match dominated by SRT boys right from the start with Bhupen, Nikhil and Akash batting really well while Sairaj and Jay winning the hearts of everyone with their toughfight in the 4th innings.
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Played at the Navroz CC, Azad Maidan, U/14 Shivaji Park and U/14 Dombivali+Ambernath took on each other with U/14 Shivaji Park winning the toss and electing to bat first on a track which had equal assistance for both the bowlers as well as the batsman.
U/14 Shivaji Park batting first were however skittled out for 189runs all out with Sameep Misal top scoring with 68 as the rest of the batsman struggled to make much of an impact. Right arm medium pacer Archit Ghosalkar bowled a superlative bowling spell of 5/25 in 10 overs while off-spinner Gurnath bagging 3wkts. Archit was spot on with the ball bowling in the right areas while he also took crucial breakthroughs at regular intervals.
U/14 Dombivali+Amb team were off to a good start with opener Aditya Rawat’s 65 but it was Vignesh Parab at no.4 who went on to score a match winning 136* off 195balls (21fours). Vignesh anchored the innings and played some really impressive shots as he took on the bowlers confidently. U/14 Shivaji Park were 73/3 in 24 overs in their 2nd innings before the match ended and U/14 Dombivali+Amb won the match on 1st innings.
It was a dominating match led by U/14 Dombivali+Ambernath where in Archit and Vignesh stood out in the match. Vigesh has been in good nick to post this match batting really well.
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Played at the PJ Hindu Gymkhana Ground in Mumbai, PJ Hindu gymkhana elected to bowl first after winning the toss with an aim of restricting the opposition to a low total and chase it down successfully.
CCI after being made to bat first were off to a patch start with their openers falling out quickly but Behzad Devadvala once again played the anchors role scoring a very important 43 off 42balls atno.3 to stabilize their batting. The rest of the batsman gave quick starts which took the team total to 167/9 in 20 overs.
Defending 168 against PJ on their home turf, CCI did a commendable job with the ball restricting them to only 152/5 in 20 overs. From the bowlers Zaosh irani did a superb job giving away only 18runs in 4overs while also bagging 2wkts while the rest of the bowlers were also impressive with the ball as CCI won the match by 15runs while Zaosh was declared ‘man of the match’
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Played at the Shivaji Park Dadar, U/14 NMSA+Airoli and U/14 SRT Kandivali took on each other where in U/14 SRT Kandivali team won the toss and elected to bowl first.
U/14 NMSA team’s batting line up collapsed batting first as they were bundled out for just 61runs all out in 35.2 overs with only 2players managing to score in double figures. From the bowlers, left arm spinner Zenith Sachdev bowled a fantastic spell of 4 for mere 2runs in 10overs with 8maidens which inflicted the maximum damage.
Kandivali team in return declared their innings on 182/3 in 38.2 overs with Mohit Tanwar at no.3 top scoring with an aggressive 82 off mere 51balls stamping his presence and letting everyone know how consistently he has batted past one year. On the other hand another promising name Raj Desmukh scored a classy 66* off 73balls batting effortlessly against the bowlers.
U/14 NMSA team were again bundled out for 81runs on the back of excellent bowling by the bowlers as U/14 SRT Kandivali team won the match outright by an innings in a dominating manner.
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Played at the Western Railways, Cross Maidan, Our Own Club and KRP XI took on each other for the crucial semi finals where in Our own club won the toss and elected to bat first on a wicket which has always had more assistance for the bowlers.
Our Own Club may have regretted their decision to bat first as they were bundled out for 163runs all out in which no one managed to convert their scores apart from Pratik Gharat’s 48. From the KRP XI, Vishal Kavaiya bowled a magnetizing spell of 6/15 in 9overs with 3maidens to take the game away from the OOC team. Vishal came up with one of the best bowling figures of Kanga Knockout and that too at a crucial juncture of the tournament as he kept on turning the ball bowling in the right areas.
KRP XI in return chased down the score and won the match by 3wkts as every almost batsman chipped in with 20’s and 30’s finishing off the chase successfully in 34.5 overs. KRP XI will not play the finals and it was on the back of Vishal’s superb bowling spell in the semis.
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Just fresh from a nice ton in the longer format of the game, Ajinkya has now proved his hitting prowess with a breath taking half century in the Dreamz T20 Tournament. Played between WNS and Nielsen at the MB Union Ground, Nielsen won the toss and elected to bat first.
However, their decision to bat first did not seem to be one of the best as they were reduced to only 105runs all out in 18.5 overs. Not a single batsman managed to make much of an impact with everyone getting out cheaply. WNS bowlers did a really good job taking breakthroughs at regular intervals while also not allowing any batsman to score runs freely.
Chasing 106, it was a mere formality for the WNS team as Ajinkya Patil made a mockery of the bowling attack opening the innings. Ajinkya reached his fifty in 11th ball which makes him the record holder of fastest fifty in Mumbai cricket across all formats. Ajinkya eventually went on to score 83* off 23balls hitting 8fours and 8sixes at a strike rate of almost 350+ which eventually helped WNS win the match by 7wkts and as many as 13.2 overs to spare.
It was a clean win for WNS and Ajinkya was rightly declared ‘man of the match’ for his blazing half century.
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Played at the PJ Hindu Gymkhana, NSCI won the toss and elected to bat first against a perfectly balanced side of Osian’s in order to make a big total and put the opposition under pressure.
NSCI were however skittled out for mere runs as their decision to bat first seemed to have gone wrong. With only their opener Kamran Ahmed top scoring with 48, the rest of the batsmen struggled against the OCC bowlers. All-rounder Aditya singh bowled one of the most effective and economical spell of 4/16 in 4 overs which did the job for his team. Aditya bowled in the right areas which helped him become the pick of the bowlers.
Osians CC chased down the score with superlative ease as their skipper Digvijay Kathiwada who is a solid batsman scored 50 off 38balls opening the innings with the destructive Vishal Shah who also scored a brisk 50 off 28balls playing his natural game. Osian’s CC won the match by 7wkts as openers smashed 80% of the runs with the good start they gave while ‘man of the match’ Aditya Singh did the job with the ball.
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January to May end is the time when cricket is at its best in India and especially in Mumbai. There a wide range of high profile MCA Tournaments of various age groups to non-mca tournaments which are being conducted. 2day test matches, T20’s, T10, T15, 40over game and a host of other formats are being conducted in Mumbai and it results in a large variety of exceptional performances from various formats.
The much awaited Cricketgraph rankings are out for April and if you are making it into the top 5, you have definitely stood out from a minimum 200 exceptional knocks in that particular month as the competition is intense in Mumbai during this time when it comes to cricket.
Here are the Top 5 Knocks for April 2018 which won our hearts all over:
Joint 5th– Sarvesh Damle(RHB)-134* off 136balls, Young Comrade Shield ’18 at Shivaji Park
DPC after winning the toss made 342 in their first innings while chasing 343, Sarvesh Damle continued his stellar form with the bat smashing an unbeaten 134* off 136balls smashing 12fours and 3sixes. What’s more he also stitched an unbeaten 212* runs stand with Yogesh Takawale which helped DY Patil win the match by 7wkts..
5th Naushad Shaikh (RHB)-203 off 129balls, Semis of the Times Shield’18 at DY Patil Ground
If you take away the fact that BPSA team(Bharat Petroleum) played the whole game with only 8 players, This knock could have been at the no.1 spot. But still not taking away the credit as well as the fact that Naushad batted like a king smashing 35fours and 2sixes and reaching his double ton in mere 128balls which is by far the fastest Times Shield double hundred. It was on the back of his scintillating double ton that DY Patil A won the match on 1st innings.
4th– Praful Waghela (LHB)-157 off 235balls, Times Shield ’18 at Sharad Pawar Academy, BKC
Praful has been one of the most senior and experienced players when it comes to Mumbai Cricket and he just showed what he is capable of even at this age by smashing a flawless 157 off 235balls smashing 22fours and a six for Tata Sports Team. Tata Sports who batted first were off to a great start on the back of their opener Praful while he also stitched a massive 266runs partnership with Nikhil Patil Jr. taking the team total to 435. It was on the back of his crucial ton, Tata Sports defeated the powerful DY Patil team on 1st innings. Defeating DY Patil is not easy as they are almost equivalent to team Australia of Mumbai Cricket but Tata Sports did a good job on the back of Praful’s knock.
3rd– Kunal Karamchandani (RHB) -163 off 178balls in Times Shield ’18 at DPC Matunga
AG (L&R) team may have regretted their decision to field first as Western Railways team made a very big total of 387/10 in 76.2 overs. The top order chipped in with 30’s and 40’s with opener Harmesh Somaiya giving a solid start with 42runs but it was Kunal Karamchandani at no.5 who changed the script of the game with his solid 163runs of 178balls. Kunal coming at middle order brought his team back into the game smashing 22fours and 2sixes while also accelerating the team total to a very respectable one. Kunal kept on rotating the strike while also smashed some amazing shots as he took on the bowlers with impressive confidence. It was on the back of his big ton Western Railways won that match on 1st innings.
2nd – Swapnil Bivalkar (LHB)- 170 off 112, Times Shield ’18 Quarter-finals at New Hind Ground
This particular knock was of pure brilliance as Swapnil completely engaged in pure carnage hitting almost every corners of the ground. Swapnil played the longest format of the game in Mumbai Cricket like a T20 as he took mere 112balls for his 170 reminding some great test knocks of Sehwag and Nathan Astle. It was pure entertainment and dissemination of the bowlers as he plonked a record 11sixes which is the highest by any batsman in an innings in this year’s Times Shield (any division). Swapnil coupled it with 11fours while also stitched a match winning 230run stand with the rock solid Vaibhav Patil. CIPLA were bundled out for 134runs in return as Hindustan Times wins the semi-finals once again in a dominating manner by 254runs as attacking opener Swapnil Bivalkar taking the centerstage.
1st– Vishal Shah (120 off 53balls), Gannon Dunkerley T20 Tournament ‘18
Played at the Elf Vengsarkar Oval, Osians CC and Malabar Hill Club took on each other for a crucial clash with Osians CC winning the toss and electing to bat first on the back of their strong batting line up.
Their decision to bat first was completely spot on as opener Vishal Shah set the ground on fire with his enterprising batting smashing a brutal 120 off mere 53balls. Vishal pounced on every bowler in every corner of the ground hitting as many as 12fours and 6sixes at a strike rate of 226.42 to make it the only and the fastest hundred of this year’s edition of the Gannon Dunkerley T20 Tournament.
On the back of his hundred, Osians CC won the match by 60runs as Malabar Hill Club were restricted to 186/7 in 20overs while Vishal Shah was declared ‘man of the match’ for his blazing hundred.
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